A Long Awaited Discussion
by Lexi Lupin
Summary: Sirius and Dumbledore have a conversation...twelve years too late...as Sirius awaits the Dementors Kiss in Prisoner of Azkaban. Read and Review!


A/N: Wow, I haven't done a Harry Potter story in over two years…since before Order came out…anyways. I had a sudden brainwave reading Prisoner of Azkaban and wanted to do a little filler story. So here goes!

Anyways…this is just a short little thing between Dumbledore and Sirius where Sirius first tells him the truth in Prisoner, before Dumbledore goes to talk to Harry and Hermione.

Read and REVIEW! Heeheee…

Disclaimer: All characters, etc, belong to JK Rowling. I am making no money off anything, nothing belongs to me, all that good stuff.

"Well, well, well. Can't wriggle your way out of this one, can you Black?" Severus Snape sneered. "You got lucky the last two times in this school, but I daresay you'll be leaving a little-…soulless-…this time."

Snape was essentially dragging a defeated, bound Sirius Black up the stairs to Flitwick's seventh floor office.

"I want to speak to Dumbledore," Sirius said, breaking his former silence at last. "I want to speak with him before the dementors come."

Snape laughed maniacally. "You'll be lucky to have last rights read to you at this point. I'm afraid the ministry isn't very happy with you at this point. Not to mention Dumbledore. He's very protective of his precious Harry Potter. I'm sure it angered him greatly to discover you'd been sneaking around the Gryffindor tower, knife in hand. Not to mention the fact that he is-…was, I should say-…very fond of his parents." Snape smirked evilly as Black's face somehow darkened and paled simultaneously.

For once, however, Black held his temper in check. "You're a bastard, Snape, you know that, right?"

"Wouldn't have it any other way."

"I should have figured as much. Look. You have no idea how much this pains me," he muttered, "but I beg you. Let me talk to Dumbledore one last time. Just tell him I requested a meeting, that's all I ask, even if he refuses. There's something he needs to know."

Snape's eyes glittered disturbingly. "Well," he drawled, "since you _begged_," Sirius scowled at his patronizing tone, "I suppose I could mention it to him that the infamous murderer desires one, last, undoubtedly heartfelt conversation."

They had reached their destination. Snape shoved Black through the door and went to close it, but paused, glancing at the one window in the room. He waved his wand towards it.

"There's an unbreakable charm on the window. Just so you know," he sneered. "But then again, maybe I should let you try and escape. You'd just break your neck, as you don't have a wand, if you jumped."

He slammed the door, locking it and warding it heavily so as to prevent escape. Sirius sat in despair. Life had seemed so bright for a few short minutes. Peter had been revealed, Harry had learned the truth and was eager to come live with him once he was cleared. But it looked as if it was not to be. Snape was right. There was no way to get out of this one. Dumbledore would never come to speak with him, and even if he did, what could he do anyway? He wouldn't believe Sirius was telling the truth, but Sirius _had _to warn him. He had to know about Peter, that he would be returning to Voldemort. What if the back-stabbing murderer found a way to help him regain his body?

Sirius was left sitting on the floor, shivering in this cold classroom, dreading the imminent arrival of dementors prepared to suck out his soul. He heard the classroom door open, but couldn't bring himself to look up. He sat hunched against a wall, staring at his knees, awaiting the rotting hands to grab his throat, force his face upwards. Had he been less distraught, he would have noticed the lack of cold despair usually accompanying the dementors' arrival.

"Sirius." A calm but cold voice sounded from the doorway, which shut again. "Sirius, look at me."

Sirius brought his face up and his eyes met the frosty ones of Albus Dumbledore. Snape had been right, of course. As far as Dumbledore knew, Sirius had more or less murdered Lily and James Potter, and nearly murdered Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley earlier that evening.

"I'm sorry it has to be like this," Dumbledore said, voice still cold though. "I have never approved of the dementors' ways of disposing of dangerous people. It was not my decision. Had it been up to me, you would have spent the rest of your life locked away with Aurors guarding you." He stared at the prisoner for several moments. "I don't understand, Sirius," he said at last quietly. "You loved James and Lily, I know you did at school. What happened? Did you go to Voldemort, or did he approach you?"

For the first time since Dumbledore had entered the room, Sirius broke his silence. He laughed, a disturbing, cold laugh. Dumbledore was taken aback.

"For all your intelligence, you have no wisdom. You say you know I loved James and Lily at school. I saw you repeatedly afterwards, doing work for the Order. Surely, you, of all people, would have been able to sense a change of heart?" He laughed derisively.

Dumbledore's voice was cold again. "I am not omniscient. Nor am I infallible. An accomplished Legilimens would be able to lie easily, you know this as well as I do. Why did you ask to see me, if only to make scathing remarks about how I failed twelve years ago? Do you not think it haunts me enough already?"

"I was horrible at legilimency," Sirius whispered, more to himself than anything. "I hated you Albus," he said, daring to use his first name. "Merlin, how I hated you. But not for telling the Ministry I was secret-keeper, not for believing me to have killed my best friends. I hated you for never coming to question _me_, never bothered to see if maybe you were mistaken, never bothered to do what you just did and ask me why," Sirius voice was barely a whisper now, tears visible, threatening to escape. "You were the one person I could tell what happened, the one person who would _know_ I was telling the truth. But how could I? I was never given trial, my requests to talk to you went unheard, and the dementors don't exactly let prisoners write letters, now do they?"

Dumbledore considered him for a moment, slightly shaken. "Well here I am, Sirius. Why don't you tell me just why you are not responsible for the murders of thirteen people and James and Lily. Were you bewitched, put under imperius?"

Sirius laughed again. "Even now, the thought that you are mistaken never even crossed your mind! The idea that-…"

"Why don't you just tell me so-…"

"It was Peter!" Sirius exclaimed, breathing heavily. "We switched!"

The only noise in the room for several long moments was Sirius' heavy breathing. "What do you mean?" Dumbledore whispered in shock.

"I-…," Sirius couldn't find the words, "At the last minute," he whispered, "we changed secret-keepers. We thought it was the perfect plan, would keep all of us safe. Hours before Lily was to perform the charm, I approached them with the idea. The perfect ploy," he spat in disgust.

Dumbledore looked stricken. "Peter betrayed Harry's parents?" he asked. Sirius nodded. Dumbledore looked into his eyes, seeing truth. "Unfortunately, it doesn't change anything," he said. "You were not placed in Azkaban for the murder of James and Lily, you were placed there for the murder of Peter Pettigrew and twelve-…"

"He's not dead," Sirius snarled in anger. "And I didn't kill anyone. That was all him."

"Sirius," Dumbledore said sadly, "up to this point, I was amazed at how unaffected you were by twelve years in Azkaban. But surely, you must understand why I can't believe you? Pettigrew was blown up, they found his finger. And I knew all of you fairly well at school. You can't deny that Peter was unlikely to be capable of such a curse that would blow apart an entire street."

"The dark side does things to people," Sirius muttered.

Dumbledore turned away to gaze out the window. When he turned back, he was shocked to see a large black dog sitting where Sirius had been. It then retransformed in to Sirius Black. "How-…?"

"He was more powerful and secretive than you realized. He managed to become animagus under your very nose at the age of 15. And that takes some serious effort."

"Impressive," murmured Dumbledore. "So you all did this? You, Peter, James, Remus?"

"No, not Remus," Sirius shook his head. "He was the whole reason we attempted the transformation. It took us three years, but we did it."

Understanding dawned on Dumbledore. "You could keep him company during the full moon," he surmised. Sirius nodded.

"We sneaked out under the cloak, met up with Remus. James and I could keep him under control, and he even retained some of himself with us there. We roamed the grounds, Hogsmeade, learned more of the school than anyone."

"And using that knowledge, you came into the school twice this year? But why, if not to kill Harry?"

Sirius sighed. "Peter was a rat. Wormtail, we called him. He cut his finger off before he blew apart the street. He transfigured, ran in to the sewer, later found a wizarding family to take him in."

"The Weasleys?" guessed Dumbledore. "You really were looking for Ron when you came into the tower that one night? But how did you know who-…"

Sirius reached into his pocket and pulled out the picture he had showed the three students and Lupin earlier. "The rat on Ron's shoulder. It's Peter. I recognized him at once. And if you'll notice, he's missing-…"

"A toe. Pettigrew's finger. Good Lord," breathed Dumbledore, at last understanding the story in its entirety.

"You understand now, Albus?" asked Sirius. "You understand I would never have done what I was blamed for? Yes, I did mean to kill Peter. I admit that, it was my intention twelve years ago and I meant to do it tonight."

"Why didn't you?" Albus asked curiously. "Did he escape?"

"Well yes. But Remus and I were going to kill him together, in the Shrieking Shack, but Harry stepped in. He said-…," here, his broke, "he said his father wouldn't have wanted us to become killers, just for Pettigrew."

Dumbledore smiled faintly. "Yes, he is right. Harry has the good heart of his parents. Sirius, listen to me," his smile faded. "You understand there is nothing I can do now, right? I can not overturn your sentence at this point and no one would believe you and three thirteen year olds and a werewolf."

"I know," Sirius said heavily. "That's not why I asked to see you. I thought you should know that Pettigrew is out there, and he will most likely seek out Voldemort now. He needs someone to protect him, and who better, now that he has been exposed?"

"That seems likely. Sirius, I-…," words failed Dumbledore as guilt and grief overtook him. "I can not even begin to tell you how sorry I am. I obviously didn't know you as well as I thought I did, I would have realized you would never betray James. My own anger prevented me from stepping in to convince Crouch to give you a trial, and that has condemned you to the worst possible fate now."

"Do not blame yourself," Sirius said. "I understand. I hated you at first, but I understand now. Just," he paused. "Just take care of Harry for me, will you? Tell him about me. I only got a few minutes with him that he didn't think me a murderer. Tell him how much I cared about him. Please, Albus. Can you do that for me?"

"Of course," Dumbledore agreed. "But don't give up hope. There may yet be a chance for you to avoid your sentence. Of course," he added, "it would take a miracle. But I know of a couple students who are good at those."

Sirius looked at him doubtfully.

"I'm afraid I must go meet the Minister and Severus," Sirius frowned distastefully, "and Harry and his friends, get their sides of the story." He turned to leave, but stopped. "Just a matter of curiosity, but by any chance, did James happen to transform into a stag?"

"Well, yes," Sirius said, surprised. "How did you know?"

"Harry's patronus. I thought it very bizarre at the time. But it was indeed a stag."

"That's right," Sirius said reminiscently, "Prongs. That was us. Moony, that was Remus obviously, Wormtail, Padfoot-…and Prongs," he finished quietly. "Albus, will you promise me something. If this 'miracle' of yours doesn't occur, and I-…I lose my soul. Will you find some way to have me killed. I'm serious, I don't want to live like that. Please, I beg of you." His eyes pleaded.

Dumbledore walked over and clasped his shoulders. "Do not be afraid, Sirius. You've always been so brave, you've proven that to me by spending twelve years in Azkaban for a crime you didn't commit. Do not fear this."

"I don't," whispered Sirius.

"Good," Dumbledore smiled. "I really must leave now. I have a few things to arrange."

"Remember what I said. Tell Harry for me."

Dumbledore stopped momentarily in the doorway. "I think you'll be able to do that for yourself," he said surreptitiously. He said nothing more, ignoring Sirius' puzzled expression, closing the door behind him.

"Nutjob," Sirius muttered, preparing himself for a long wait before his doom.

"Let us step out in to the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure." Albus Dumbledore

A/N: Okay, that's it. Obviously there is little need for subsequent chapters. ;-P

YOU KNOW YOU ALL WANT TO REVIEW NOW!

Haha.

Cheers!

Lexi


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